Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes National Historic Event

Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada Post issued the Colored Hockey Championship stamp on 22 January 2020 (Canada Post, “Black History: Colored Hockey Championship,”. Team photo of the Halifax Eurekas, Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes Champion, 1904. © Postes Canada | Canada Post, 2020
Colored Hockey Championship stamp, 1904
© Postes Canada | Canada Post, 2020
Canada Post issued the Colored Hockey Championship stamp on 22 January 2020 (Canada Post, “Black History: Colored Hockey Championship,”. Team photo of the Halifax Eurekas, Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes Champion, 1904. © Postes Canada | Canada Post, 2020HSMBC commemorative plaque installed for the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes National Historic Event, Halifax, NS. © Courtesy of Alan D.K. Armstrong | Avec l'autorisation de Alan D.K. Armstrong, 2025.
Address : Halifax, Nova Scotia

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 2024-01-19

Other Name(s):
  • Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 2023-09, 2023-09-A

Importance: Maritime segregated competitive hockey league, only league of its kind in Canada and in the world in the early 1900s, illustrates how African Canadian communities fought for equality in sports and social change in Canada

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  5795 Africville Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia

The CHLM was the only all-Black men’s ice hockey league in Canada. It was formed in 1895 by African Canadian Baptist community leaders and intellectuals in Dartmouth and Halifax, soon expanding in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Championship matches attracted multiracial crowds, and journalists reported on the fast-paced and rule-bending hockey. Still, the players endured racism on and off the ice. The league was reorganized in the 1920s and some clubs continued on into the 1930s. Led by influential African Nova Scotians, the CHLM provided opportunities to advance social change and fight for equality.